He told Xinhua that when Typhoon Bilis landed on July 14, some villagers were
gathering in a shelter. After the initial impact the gales seemed to have
subsided so the villagers opened the door to check outside. Suddenly the gales
rushed in and toppled the building, killing 49.
Heavy rainfall to the south of the Yangtze River were nearly one month
earlier than previous years, and during the 44 days before August 9, each new
typhoon arrived in China only nine days apart from each other. Other rare
occurrences also include the heavy snowfall earlier this year in Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. Thirteen heavy snowfalls hit the Altay region in Xinjiang,
which affected 139,000 people and caused 150 million yuan (18.75 million U.S.
dollars) of economic losses.
"Our past experiences did not enable us to cope with these rare occurrences,"
said Wang.
Since May, east China's Fujian Province has suffered seven rounds of
large-scale flooding and typhoons, which have also hit the provinces and regions
of Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Guangxi at least three times. Typhoon Saomai,
the eighth of the year and the strongest in the last five decades, had
left 325 dead by Thursday.
While flooding is swamping the south, northern and western regions are being
savaged by drought.
According to the ministry, searing heat and lack of rain has continued in
Chongqing Municipality and eastern Sichuan Province since the beginning of
summer.
Some areas are suffering from the most severe droughts in 50 years, leaving
11 million people and thousands of livestock with drinking water shortages. The
direct economic losses have reached 7 billion yuan (875 million U.S. dollars).
Even more severe conditions are continuing in Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin,
Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces and regions, some of which
have either received no proper rainfall since November 2004, or the total
quantity of rain since last year is less than 200 millimeters.
Although a number of regions have been hit by natural disasters, it is the
underdeveloped areas which are affected most, said Wang, calling for greater
efforts in disaster relief and reconstruction in those areas.
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